On August 15, a team of retired special forces personnel, under CLAW Global, will lead a group of differently abled people to attempt a world record by trekking the Siachen Glacier, the world’s highest battlefield.
“The Government of India has accorded sanction to Team CLAW to lead a team of people with disabilities to scale Siachen Glacier and create a new world record for the largest team of people with disabilities to scale the world’s highest battlefield,” said Major Arun Prakash Ambathy (retd.) of CLAW Global.
Initially, a team of 20 people with disabilities would be selected to undergo training and three- stage acclimatisation, after which the final expedition team shall be selected, Maj. Ambathy stated. “Tentatively, a minimum of six people with disabilities shall be part of the final expedition team who will trek from the Siachen Base Camp to Kumar Post.”
Kumar post is located at an altitude of about 15,632 feet.
This was the land world record expedition part of ‘Operation Blue Freedom Triple World Records’ being undertaken, a statement from CLAW Global said.
The last date for signing up is August 1.
3 stages of training
The 20 selected will undergo all the three stages of acclimatisation and training at Leh (Stage 1), Siachen Base Camp (Stage 2) and North Pullu (Stage 3). The final team would be then be selected, subject to the logistical bandwidth of the Siachen Base Camp and intermediate camps between the base camp and Kumar Post, Maj. Ambathy said.
On the medical screening to be followed, the statement said, a specialist panel of doctors would screen the participants in Delhi before the launch of the expedition. “They will be assessed for their disability, vitals and a battery of clinical tests to check their suitability of inducting into high-altitude terrain ranging upto 16,000 ft.”
The final ascent team selected after the three stages shall undergo a second round of medicals at the Siachen Base Camp just before the start of the expedition from the base camp to Kumar Post.
CLAW Global was set up in January 2019 by Major Vivek Jacob, a Para SF officer, who had to hang up his boots following a combat skydive injury after 14 years of service in the Army, with the aim of teaching lifeskills to adventurers and people with disabilities (PWD).
